Covid news: Boris Johnson ‘optimistic’ on 21 June date as ‘fear and anxiety’ in hospitality sector

Michael Gove's review of Covid vaccine and testing certification could lead to a ban on demands for proof of immunity in certain circumstances, prime minister Boris Johnson has indicated.

The PM’s comments raise the possibility that the review, set to report its findings by 21 June, will bar employers from implementing “no jab, no job” rules or pubs and restaurants excluding people who have not been vaccinated.

Mr Johnson made clear that the decision remains open on whether and how certification would work, saying that complex ethical issues must be considered before making a decision on “mandating people to have such a thing, or indeed banning people from doing such a thing”.

Our Political Editor Andrew Woodcock has the details:

Downing Street said efforts were continuing to improve vaccine take-up in all areas of the country after concerns were raised earlier that fewer people were getting jabs in more deprived communities.

Boris Johnson's official spokesperson said: "We will continue to work closely with local authorities and community groups including faith leaders and other representatives to continue to promote the vaccine.

"We have rolled out and increased the number of locations where people can receive the vaccine, which now includes more and more chemists, hospitals and mass vaccination centres.

"So we are making it as easy as possible for people to access the vaccine."

Nicola Sturgeon is set to announce more detailed plans for lifting Scotland's lockdown restrictions within the next 10 minutes.

Ms Sturgeon has previously warned that any easing of measures will be guided by data rather than dates, with a return to "normality" dependent upon falling numbers of Covid-19 hospitalisations.

Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish government is now aiming to vaccinate every adult in Scotland by the end of July, bringing the date forward from September.

The first minister said 1,465,241 people have now been vaccinated in Scotland, up 19,753 on yesterday.

Scotland will move back to a regional level system of restrictions by the end of April if conditions allow, Nicola Sturgeon has said, at odds with Boris Johnson’s plan for England, where restrictions are planned to be eased across the whole country at once.

“From the last week of April we would expect to see phased but significant reopening of the economy,” Ms Sturgeon said, including the reopening of gyms and hairdressers.

Political Editor Andrew Woodcock has more on the first minister’s announcement here:

The Scottish Government hopes to lift the stay at home restriction in Scotland from 5 April, Nicola Sturgeon said.

Nicola Sturgeon has said she hopes to be able to give more detail in mid-March on the easing of restrictions in Scotland.

Ms Sturgeon said she had hoped to give “as much clarity as possible” in today’s announcement but added added she wanted to avoid "giving false assurance or picking arbitrary dates that have no grounding at this stage in any objective assessment".

She continued: "I am as confident as I can be that the indicative, staged timetable that I have set out today — from now until late April when the economy will start to substantially reopen — is a reasonable one.

"And in mid-March — when we have made further progress on vaccines and have greater understanding of the impact of the initial phase of school return — I hope we can set out then more detail of the further reopening that will take place over April and May and into a summer when we hope to be living with much greater freedoms than we are today."

Addressing the first ever meeting of United Nations Security Council leaders to discuss the climate crisis, Sir David Attenborough said the coronavirus pandemic had demonstrated that global cooperation is necessary to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges.

“Perhaps the most significant lesson brought by these last 12 months has been that we are no longer separate nations each best served by looking after its own needs and security”, the 94-year-old environmentalist told global leaders.

“We are a truly global species whose greatest threats are shared and whose security must ultimately come from acting together in the interests of us all.

“Climate change is a threat to global security that can only be dealt with by unparalleled levels of global cooperation.”

Businesses from across the hospitality sector have voiced their alarm over the government’s timetable for easing coronavirus restrictions.

Leading industry figures, including Manchester’s night time economy adviser Sacha Lord, say delaying opening many indoor venues until at least mid-May will force some businesses to sack staff or even close down.

“I don’t know how businesses are going to make it,” Mr Lord said, “We now have 10 days of fear and anxiety among operators and among employees, because it is 10 days until the chancellor comes out and says how he is going to support them.

Tom Batchelor has the details:

The public should be able to enjoy a full programme of concerts and gigs this summer, according to the boss of the Music Venue Trust.

Mark Davyd, chief executive of the organisation representing grassroots venues, said people can be "very confident" the sector will restart, so long as no new virus variants emerge and the vaccine rollout continues as planned.

"We are on course to bring live music back, to revive live, by the summer," Mr Davyd said.

Despite this, he said, it may be "two or three years" until music venues are "fully recovered" from the the effects of the pandemic, adding that an "enormous amount of debt" had accrued over the course of the pandemic.